Learn about Junior Chemistry: Compounds 4 Video

Acids are just kind of strange but they have a very straightforward nomenclature that actually most students just have to memorize how to do. Acids are molecular types of compounds that act sometimes very ionically and they're made up of hydrogen ion H positive with a non-metal or a poly atomic N ion attached to it. And they're dissolved in aqueous solution. So you'd write the formula then put aq after the formula. I’ll show what that means. If you take a hydrogen ion which is H positive and you react it with chloride ion which is Cl negative—H positive Cl negative gives you HCl. So that would be hydrogen with chloride and you would get hydrochloric acid. So you have to remember that when hydrogen combines with something that ends in “I” it’s hydro___ic acid. You have to know that. So chloride—hydrochloric acid. But hydrogen, H positive, bonds to something that ends in “-ate” like for instance sulfate. Then you're going to get well it sounds like you should just get the –ate becomes –ic so sulfic acid but we kind of take sulfur and phosphorus and extend it a bit with “-uric” and then they go sulfuric acid. So “-ate” becomes “-ic”. And then when hydrogen, H positive, bonds to something that ends in “-ite” like for instance nitrite then you get—and by the way nitrite that’s NO2 negative. So if you have an H positive you would get formed HNO2. We put aq after it which tells us this is an aqueous solution is dissolved in water and that becomes nitrite becomes nitrous acid. “-ate” becomes “-ic”, “-ite” becomes “-ous” and this one here which is a little bit trickier it’s the “I” it becomes hydro___ic acid.

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